As his turn came, as it always does, he became even more fanatical to the cause.

He has served as the ‘master to emulate’ by our current dictator in chief.

Trump is described as a follower of Roy Cohn who showed Trump how to ‘exploit the power and instill fear’.

Being acknowledged as a disciple of Roy Cohn, as damning as that is, is only a part of Trump’s evil designs.

His real anchor as he presides over the death of the United States of America is:

Joseph Goebbels.

Yes, you read that right.

I have read Trump is a modern day Hitler.

That may be.

But I put forth the nomination of Joseph Goebbels.

He is a fascist leading the brain-washed citizens to overtake an experiment in democracy.

But I recommend that Trump, the most powerful ‘illiberal’ to ever walk the earth, to be the incarnation of Dr. Joseph Goebbels.

I claim Trump is the master of ‘illiberal’ because even Hitler did not have as much power as Trump has at his fingertips.

Hitler had Mussolini who made up the Rome-Berlin Axis.

Japan was also considered part of the Axis powers but there had been no summit or meeting to establish the formality.

The three countries controlled Europe, North Africa, and East Asia at their zenith.

But Trump has Putin and Xi Jinping.

Trump has powerful followers of his tradecraft: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban; Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro; the Philipines President RodrigoDutarte and no doubt even more up and comers who haven’t reached the world stage just yet.

Hitler also had Marshal Philippe Petain who headed Vichy France until 1942 when the Allied Invasion of France brought Charles De Gaulle back to France.

Charles De Gaulle led Free French Provincial government of the Free French Republic and ousted Petain from power.

But in terms of the number of people under subjugation to these dictators and the sheer firepower they can amass beats Hitler and his ilk any day.

Goebbels is described by the Jewish Virtual Library. org which recorded Hitler’s impression of Goebbels.

“Dr. Goebbels was gifted with the two things without which the situation in Berlin could not have been mastered: ‘verbal facility and intellect’”.

The Jewish Virtual Library. org’s description continues “Goebbels was the true creator and organizer of the Fuhrer myth, of the image of the Messiah-redeemer, feeding the theatrical element of the Nazi leader while inducing the self-surrender of the German masses through skillful stage management and manipulation’.

Now, I ask you, which of the above images does not describe Trump to the last of his coiffed fake hair.

If not for his orange complexion maybe he could resemble Goebbels more closely.

But, does his ” deeply rooted contempt for humanity, his urge to sow confusion, hatred, and intoxication, lust for power and his mastery of the techniques of mass persuasion” match, Joseph Goebbels, when he was given full vent in the election campaigns of 1932 which brought Hitler to center stage.

Why do the major media outlets fear to bring these characteristic similarities of Trump and Goebbels to center stage in American news?

No doubt they do not want to inflame passions more than they are.

Based on the marches of Portland OR last weekend where the right wing Patriot Prayer party’s demonstration was met by counter-protesters.

The police were prepared for the event, keep each party to an opposite sidewalk along the street. Skirmishers of the opposing forces met and they shed blood.

Noteworthy is that this alt-right gathering is just ahead of the alt-right ‘Unite the Right’ in Charlottesville last August.

Would you expect that Trump will continue his wild-tinged calls for against the press as “enemies of the people” and the Mueller investigation “a witch hunt” are having the desired effect?

The title of the post tonight is ‘Nevermore’. Does anyone recognize the famous phrase?

A hint: it was in a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

But maybe he is not taught anymore?

An example of what they still may teach galloped across my mind last night while watching a math professor finish the equation of a lifetime. From on his ladder, his slowly turned his head to see the cleaning lady wiping off the beginning of the equation. The narrator’s voice trailed off, ‘he almost finished the equation’?

Great commercial.

Great question.

How many know the name of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem?

I could ramble on with subjects not taught anymore and one caught my mind. Spelling!

Who needs spelling and proofreading in the day of Grammarly, ProWriting Aid and many other tools?

Case in point.

My spellchecker did not recognize that I had misspelled Poe’s middle name incorrectly.

What an embarrassment!

‘Nevermore’!

Last evening and the one before I lamented I had separated from several family members due to their continued intoxication with Trump.

My oft-stated reasoning for debunking so many of Trump’s stupidities/lies/miscalculations take your pick is to correct the fake news of the day.

I often state that if people are intoxicated with Trump after 18 months they should move to a desert island with others of their ilk.

Leave us that love DEMOCRACY and DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES to live in what was the UNITED States of America.

That holds true for these men and women have served in the military.

They took an OATH to DEFEND and UPHOLD the CONSTITUTION.

To act against the Constitution is CONSPIRACY. That is a federal felony.

I don’t understand how they can so blithely ( casually and cheerfully) cast aside the country that helped them grow to adulthood.

I do not take my stand lightly nor without great sadness.

Tonight I watched last nights broadcast of the Rachel Maddow Show.Nicolle Wallace interviewed Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist.

She also interviewed a former high ranking FBI official and a former high ranking CIA official.

Brian Stelter a reporter for CNN added in his column last night that Trump has lied (quoting a Washington Post columnist) 4,229 times in 558 days.

Chris Cillizza of CNN states he has said things that are not true more than 7 times a day!

The easy question is why don’t Trump supporters, (several months ago I labeled them as “JOCKSTRAPS”) look at something other than Fox News and other alt-right rags?
I agree with a reporter the other day said we shouldn’t call Trump and his supporters ‘fake news’. It is propaganda.

I agree wholeheartedly.

I have struggled for a good name to label the ‘fake news’.

Propaganda is the real name for FAKE NEWS.

The harder question is that people who I assume perform due diligence when they are looking at buying a used car or looking for a new car mechanic.

But to decide they do not want to know the truth about Trump and his evilness?

They take him and his supporters at face value?

Even Fox News has Shep Smithhas often spoken the truth regarding Trump.

These people who have their heads in the sand about Trump.

They have their heads even deeper in a pile of cow manure when they don’t even listen to a news anchor on Fox News.

Amazingly stupid!

This makes them irrelevant in any conversation involving today’s news.

I queried them and did not get a response.

Are they concerned where Trump and his minions are leading this country in regards to Women’s Rights? Children’s Rights? Civil Rights?

The Rights of the Sick and Infirm?

The Rights of the children ripped from their mothers at our border?

Do they understand the damage Trump and those of Trump’s Party (make no mistake the Republican Party does not exist) are doing?

The debris alone will last as long as their children are alive!

Their grandchildren’s children will still pay for the damage Trump is doing.

The $1.5 trillion gift to the 1% and to wealthy corporations will take that long to repay.

I am not even discussing the moral turpitude he is encouraging and is being copied not only by other JOCKSTRAPS running for election or reelection. but by other countries around the world.

If I cannot trust these people’s competence to test attacks against the longstanding pillars of this country’s experiment in democracy, how can I trust their competency to tell me what the weather is?

This is obviously an oversimplification but how can any opinion they hold be of value?

An example: since they have not given any indication of ever talking to me again, I must conclude they approve of the activities at the Tampa rally.

Those people and their actions are beyond the pale!

To slam the press which is a pillar of a FREE DEMOCRACY IS INEXCUSABLE.

I have no choice but to cut off further conversation.

That is brutal.

It is sad.

But it is necessary.

I can’t wrap my head around the new ways Trump finds to disparage this nation, its history, its citizens.

I don’t have enough time left on this earth to understand these people’s misguidedness.

Like this:

Always an enticing vision causing man to look beyond, beyond the ground, beyond the sky into the New Horizons that have kept calling since the beginning of time.

As a young man with friends, we would set off in September (the nights were getting cold and so kept the mosquitoes at bay), sitting by a warm fire after a long day of paddling in the Boundary Waters, sipping a muscle warming brandy and water staring at the stars. Oh so brilliant, no city lights to dim their glory, to be transported to the land of imagination. What if? I wonder when? Who would have thought? How often?

Like this:

“The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something “their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition”

A mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness “on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and “accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

“Mindfulness is the basic human ”ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us”

—

I just read a post about post-Christianity America and how irrelevant we are to millennials and society at large.

I let out an audible ‘whew’ when he (Benjamin Sledge of “HeartSupport” started to discuss how much better Christianity will be when all the false believers die off and the Christian churches become vibrant again.

It is such a shocker and eye-opener that I have linked to it here if you are interested. It is a well-written piece.

It is also a re-affirmation of what we are reading and studying, how to let the Holy Spirit work in our prayer life and help lead us thru the dark night of the soul (if that is what we desire- it is not a requirement) so that people will Jesus living in us.

Mr. Sledge quotes Dr. Timothy Keller “we are so loved that we don’t despair when we do wrong, but so sinful that we have no right to be puffed up when we do right.” If you read the article at the link you will find that Dr. Keller has some teachings that require the historical Christian church to hesitantly approve of his gospel.

But remember Paul’s cautionary instruction in Philippians 1:18: “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,” (NIV).

—

We started this post by looking at the definition and explanation of Mindfulness.

A Google search will display a graph on how much and how fast Mindfulness has grown in recent years. It is astonishing. The Veteran’s Administration even has an application for your phone to make it easier to use.

But I would ask you (without looking back at definitions of contemplation:

Which do you prefer in your life Mindfulness, or contemplation or both?

Why?

2. Which do you think is more necessary for today’s society?

Why?

3. Which do you think would have the biggest, best impact on today’s society if a majority were to start practicing it?

Why?

St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross were good friends

To continue:

“A Taste of Silence” by Father Carl Arico

“The classic meaning of contemplation is “resting in God.”

“There as two types of contemplation: acquired and infused.”

Father Arico goes into much detail describing all of the terms involved. But I will leave the details to you and spell out as plainly as I can the terms I will be using.

Father Arico states:

Acquired contemplation is the effort we put in under the prompting of the Spirit to rest in the presence of God.

ii. In concentrative we use our faculties (imagination, intellect, will) to produce the effect of resting in the presence of God.

iii. “Examples of receptive could be the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner), Christian Zen prayer, or Christian meditation-the repetition of a mantra.”

(The Jesus Prayer is an historical prayer of the Eastern Catholic churches.)

An easier way maybe with a comparison: But remember this exercise in terminology in no way has an effect on your prayer.

It is merely to acquaint you with some terms.

A. In concentrative acquired contemplation, you are concentrating, you are active

B. In receptive acquired contemplation, you don’t try to understand, you don’t try to feel anything, you surrender, you consent. If you get an insight, you let it go. You simply want to be letting everything go for the sake of resting in the Lord.

“Some people as they become more comfortable in simple prayer forms begin to feel uncomfortable with the wordiness of prayer talk. It is a process of being away from discursive prayer and meditation. This doesn’t mean it is bad to use the words and symbols of discursive prayer it just means we are maturing in prayer. We don’t stop with these prayers. They become even more meaningful. It just means there is a simplification taking place.”

Infused contemplation is a gift from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit sees the effort we are making to rest in God’s presence. We can only go so far on our own. Then the Spirit takes over and brings us to deeper rest. All prayer is a gift from God.”

Let’s look at the two opposites. In acquired contemplation, I can say ‘I did this’, ’it had this effect and I’m going to do that again.”

“With infused contemplation, all I really know is that I was there. We are moving without effort, without flaw. In the dance of prayer, we are united, one with God. From this loving union flows a loving knowledge transcending abstract conceptual knowledge. The infused quality of this loving knowledge indicates that it is wholly a gift from God and is totally beyond human capacity. No human effort can bring it about. It is pure gift.”

“Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit priest and paleontologist who took part in the discovery of Peking Man (in 1923–1927).

He defined the gift of the Holy Spirit this way: “To lose oneself in the unfathomable, to plunge into the inexhaustible, to find peace in the incorruptible, to give one’s deepest to him whose depths have no end.”

Now Father Arico gives us a glimpse of where he is leading us-into Centering Prayer.

“Centering prayer (receptive acquired contemplation) is a method to facilitate the development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties to cooperate with this gift (infused contemplation).

It is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. During the time of prayer, we consent to God’s presence and action within us.”

“Centering Prayer is preparing one to receive the gift of infused contemplation if the Spirit so chooses to do so.”

At this point, Father Arico starts exploring what is meant by transformation. In Scripture we hear about a “new creation”, “born again”, “I live now not I but Christ lives in me”, “unless you are born again of water and the Holy Spirit you will not enter the kingdom of God.”

“The new life we are called to has been called “transformation” by contemporary writers.

The process of transformation simply means a complete overhaul by the Spirit within each of us.” The liturgy has a fine summation: “Through him and with Him and in Him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is Yours almighty Father, forever and ever. Amen.”

God the potter continues to work in our lives. We need to look at the potter. The potter has to break the old mold in order to replace it with a new one, so we must let go of the old self and replace it with the new.”

We now have an awful tension within us- if we take only part of the message.

We see faithfulness to God as the path to peace and harmony.

But it is also a path of unrest when we must change our preconceived notions of what life is all about. You now see it means accepting the uncertainties of the journey.

Earlier I mentioned St. John of the Cross, he wrote “Dark Night of the Soul.”

“This night is God’s transforming process. The dark is our resistance when we don’t want to change. We arm wrestle with God and fight against changing with all our might.”

As we move thru this dark night, we start to feel our of control. We have felt that we have had our prayer routine scheduled and in good order. Soon the old answers aren’t working anymore. Are you falling apart? Maybe you feel like you are losing your dedication. If you are faithful to your prayer life, you will find that God is moving you into a new way of life.

“You will need to learn that you are not always in control. It does not feel that way, but it is true. Many run from this experience of brokenness. We fear it. Yet it is part of the transformation.”

These transformations are not done by us. “They are being done to us because we are open to remaining in the presence of God. We become open to become what we are called to be.”

We are probably are not even aware of the changes in our life. Other people are. Some may even mention it to us. But this is not something we are ‘working on’. But the Spirit is working on us, and in us and thru us as we begin to live out our calling.

You will notice the difference in your life. Peace will come to your spirit. Joy will come to your heart. Clarity will come to your mind.

When I was much much younger I had a paper route. A very long paper route, especially in the winter. Below zero mornings, even before the windchill was added.

The snow crunching underfoot. That was a welcome sound. This was in the days before the fancy earbuds and other do-dads (let’s say 1950-ish). I could only talk to myself for a short while. Then I would drive myself bonkers.

I would write snippets is the best that I can describe them. Do you think that is why I write such long posts now? Overcompensating for my earlier lack of verbosity? Too bad all the good ones slipped my mind it was so cold.

I am retired. I am tired. My body is kicking me for all the years of abusing it. Do I wish I had treated it better? Nah. Who knew of all the consequences.

Well, I have a book review I have to write.

I hope to see you stop and say ‘hey’. website is dabblerduckbutts.com.

Apocalypse Now

Is set in late 1969; a newspaper headline places the film just before the first grand jury hearing in the Charles Manson murder case.

It depicts the ruinous nature of the U.S. Intervention in the Vietnam civil war, as well as the wholesale Americanization of the battleground via sophisticated technology, showbiz, drugs, and rock and roll – not to mention paranoia.

Covert-missions operative Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) is charged by General Corman (G.D. Spradlin) and a CIA man (Jerry Ziesmer) to cross into Cambodia to “terminate with extreme prejudice” an insane Special Forces colonel, Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando),whose army of Montagnard tribesmen are fighting a war of indiscriminate terror. Traveling up the fictional Nung River in a Navy PBR (Patrol Boat River) Willard and the crew-Chief Phillips (Albert Hall), Chef (Frederic Forrest), Lance (Sam Bottoms), and Clean (Laurence Fishburne, credited here as “Larry”) – witness or participate in a series of horrendous incidents that mostly represent real events from the war.

Redux included scenes that the public hadn’t seen before: Willard’s prank theft of Kilgore’s favorite surfboard, which forces the crew to hide the PBR under a canopy of foliage. Their layover at an abandoned medevac station, where Chef and Lance fool around with two stranded Playmates, played by Colleen Camp and Cyndi Wood. There is an interlude at a plantation run by members of a French colonial family, who appear to be ghosts. Then we hear Kurtz reading to Willard, whom he has captured and caged. Kurtz reads from a propagandist Time magazine article predicting America’s imminent victory in the war.

Final Cut

The Ride of the Valkyries Hear the Choppers Fear the Choppers They had to be the most feared of weapons. Watch the women scrabble to move their children to safety when they heard the whop whop.

Coppola has cut the medevac sequence for Final Cut. “I felt there was a reason to shoot those bizarre little vignettes of those little 18-year-old girls,” he said. “I was trying to show that their being used to titillate people sexually wasn’t a lot different from those 18-year-old boys, [and] the abuse heaped on them when they’re sent to war. However, my instinct now tells me that, in the overall continuity of the movie, that scene [doesn’t belong thematically]. It’s included as an extra [on the Blue-ray] if people want to see it.

Forty years later

Coppola has finally (apparently) put his magnum opus to bed.

Still, the director said, he is unsure how bearing the brunt of Apocalypse Now’s beleaguered $31.5 million production changed him as a man. “Every one of my films was traumatic like that,” he said. “In the case of Apocalypse, I was on the hook for the debt, and in those days interest was 25%. I was scared stiff. I had three kids and no family fortune and no one to turn to, and I was pretty much in a dangerous situation. How does a person feel who has survived mere annihilation? I don’t know.”

“Removing the medevac scene was a good call; it reads as too sexually exploitive for the #MeToo era.” Coppola also cut Kurtz’s reading from Time, another scene that doesn’t play for modern audiences. “When I made the movie, Time was still a very important and feared news outlet,” Coppola said. “It could take you to task, and then hurt you if it wanted to. So I thought it was important to take [the magazine] to task… But now I don’t consider Time as much of a target.“

THE SURFBOARD GOES ON-THE-BOAT!

The Time Scene

Which showed Kurtz’s rational side, also detracted from the idea that he has become the embodiment of evil. But Final Cut allays the possibility that Willard could similarly be corrupted by power by retaining the scenes in which Willard steals Kilgore’s surfboard, and, during the French plantation serves as a rest,” Coppola said, “and if the [journey] going up the river was the same as going back in time, first you go back 40 years, and then after the French plantation, you go back millennium into pre-medieval times.”

“So somehow I was hoping for a version that most crystallized the movie’s theme… When we did Redux, we just put things back in…We never cut it, or shrunk it a little bit, or rebalanced it.”

DUVALL AS THE SURFING COLONEL ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning’

“The way it’s cut now, the [discussion of] all of the history and politics [in Vietnam] is in the background while Willard is looking at Roxanne. That brings back some memory of the original Willard we met at the Saigon hotel room, and you realize he has no wife any longer and that he got divorced, and there is some part of him that’s empty. I felt he could feel alive again…and I thought that was useful to know about him.”

During the conversation at the dinner table, Hubert de Marais (Christian Marquand), the leader of the French family, tells Willard, “You Americans are fighting for the biggest nothing in history.” This statement resonates more in the post-Communist era than it would have in 1979. “It’s absolutely true,” Coppola said. “Even our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, wanted, if Ho Chi Minh agreed, to help resist the Japanese and defeat the Japanese. He intended Vietnam to be given back to the Vietnamese. It’s only because the British took the surrender of the Japanese that Vietnam was turned over to the French…Essentially, the Vietnamese war was basically fought for nothing. All it did was bring misery both to the Vietnamese and the Americans…It was absolutely pointless…a war fought for no reason.”

The MANY FACES OF MARLON BRANDO

Coppola often likens the making of Apocalypse Now-bringing a massive Hollywood machine to the movie’s Philippine locations – to the American incursion in Vietnam. During filming, he actually compared himself to Kurtz. “If I didn’t say it, believe me, someone else would have,” he said. “When I made The Godfather, the first thing people said was, “Oh, Coppola’s just like Michael Corleone, cold and Machiavellian. Or, he’s just like Kurtz, a megalomaniac.” Or, “just like Preston Tucker [the automobile inventor of Tucker: “The Man and His Dream], a mad entrepreneur.” I was always tarred with the same brush of the character I was featuring in a movie.”

Marlon Brando

ANOTHER FACE OF MARLON BRANDOAnother face of Kurtz – how many did you count?

Added to Coppola’s frustration when he joined the cast and crew. Though he’d been perfectly professional while making The Godfather with Coppola, when he arrived in the Philippines to play Kurtz, he wasn’t ready. Production was held up for several days as he and Coppola debated the character.

After two weeks, a despairing Coppola told his cinematographer, Vittorio Storaro, that he might abandon the production altogether. The Brando’s brilliant improvisations, based on his and Coppola’s discussions, began to bear fruit. Coppola now looks back on the actor with affection. “People say he gave me trouble, but he was an extraordinary man who made an extraordinary contribution with his creativity and his genius,” he said. “Sure he came overweight and behaved like a big, spoiled kid-but the fact that I even got to know him in my life is a privilege.”

Dennis Hopper, cast as the crazed American photojournalist who has become Kurtz’s apologist, had meanwhile energized Coppola and his crew – but Hopper, couldn’t or wouldn’t learn his lines, which meant his greeting the PBR at Kurtz’ compound required at least 54 takes!

Photojournalist appears in three scenesChoppers on the Attack. Looking for Surf!

ARRIVING WHILE SURF IS JUST COMING UP

“The cut of a film is a magical thing”

Francis Ford Coppola has been quoted as saying, “After all, a movie is an illusion, and what makes the illusion come alive could be a matter of maybe taking out six frames in one sequence-that might do the trick. I used to tell my kids that in getting a cigarette lighter to work, you might have to change the flint, put in more fluid, pull the wick out, and keep doing little things. So me feeling was that to get Apocalypse Now to light up as an experience for the audience just required some tweaking.”

The 80-year-old director has, in fact, removed more than six frames from his hallucinatory Vietnam War Epic, which is returning to theaters on August 19th and on home video on August 27 – in its third incarnation- 40 years after its initial release. The metaphor-laden movie has not only been lavishly restored but significantly trimmed; Final Cut as the latest version is subtitled, is 20 minutes shorter than the 202-minutes extended edition, Apocalypse Now Redux that Coppola birthed in 2001.

LIONSGATE

napalm – Lt Colonel loves it with his AM coffee

“When I was asked [by the distributor, Lionsgate,] which version I wanted to show this time, I knew I didn’t want to show the [147-minutes 1979 version]'” Coppola said. “I felt that in my lust to make it shorter and less weird back then, I removed so many important things. When we did Redux, we just put things back in – but I was troubled about showing that version this time, because really feel that, for many people and even for the theme of the film, it required more time than seemed right to me. I knew I wanted to balance Redux a little better.”

MARTIN SHEEN

He had a severe heart attack that required his son Charlie to go to the Philippines and nurse him back to health.

Comments and Vietnam Footnotes

I was in the U.S. Army (actually the Army of the United States, i.e. a draftee not RA -regular army). I spent one year nine months and some nits and lice at Fort McClellan AL, Home of the Army Chemical Corps and the WACS (Women’s Army Corps).

Fort McClellan was closed in 1999 due to dioxin contamination (Agent Orange that was used to defoliate the jungles in Vietnam). I am still processing a disability claim for that nightmare.

A fascinating scene in the movie when the five F105 Phantom jets laid down the napalm so that Lt. Colonel Kilgore could go surfing uninterrupted in Viet Cong territory.

I did a blog post on my dabblerduckbutts.com website and I copied it to Medium “Blood Money, Keep the Tiny Humans Alive.”

I had an AHA! moment when I was writing the post – how did we ever get the 1% to kill the war?

Crystal Clear problem, Crystal Clear solution.

I shall let you just read the post if you don’t mind because I found it riveting in light of the movie that I rewatched last night. The 1979 version.

My Framework of the Argument regarded Blood Money and Blood Diamonds. We accepted the fact that we were giving up our rights so that the 1% could make their fortunes. Prior to Reagan in the 1980s – he emasculated the middle class with his huge tax cuts – we continue to grumble unabated still about the Blood Money and the Blood Diamonds. These are not the Blood Diamonds of Sierra Leone but our children and grandchildren!

I quoted Rhett Butler in that blog post. Margaret Mitchell’s Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. Rhett told Scarlett “I told you once before that there were two times for making big money, one in building up of a country and the other in its destruction. Slow money on the upbuilding, fast money in the crackup.” There is a little more to than but I want to share some momentous news.

An aside if you will forgive me. I read a piece of news yesterday. The Koch Brothers – the arch-conservatives have decided that a single-payer health system will save big bucks.

National Guardsmen killed 4 people at Kent State University on May 4th,This is on display at the Rubin Art Museum

1979. There were 29 Guardsmen who fired 67 bullets, injuring 9 people in addition to the 4 that were killed. Some weren’t even in the protest group. “4 Dead in Ohio” Crosby, Stills, Nash (I don’t remember if Young was part of the group at that time).

There were protests all across the country. The biggest was The March on the Pentagon on October 21, 1967 (I was graduated from high school the next spring). 2,500 soldiers (not Guardsmen) faced off against 100,000 protesters, Flower Power was born that day!

I believe the music of those days brought us all together for a common mission. Read the list of songs and artists. Amazing that so much good music was written in such a short time and is still popular today.

On January 20, 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson takes the oath of office upon the assassination of JFK. He started the major buildup of the War shortly thereafter. In 1964 there were 23,300 American advisors in Vietnam. By 1966 there were 563,000 troops. By 1973 there were 50.

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick previewed “The Vietnam War” in Duluth MN at the Train Depot downtown. It was shown at the PBS station on September 10th, 2017.

It debuted nationwide on PBS stations on September 17th.

I see the ruination of a whole generation of men and women who served when I go to the VA Clinic in Superior. I was there on Monday so it is fresh in my mind.

A new blog for all the caffeine crazy people in your world. Please let your friends know or I will personally tell them you knew this AND didn’t tell them:

Jack Daniels is now making whiskey-infused coffee. You have to be 21 to access this website.

GOOOOD MORNING

2. There is now a line of quality coffee and tea that come in compostable pods and packaging with plant-based inks. While that isn’t news this IS: Brewbudz comes with edible cannabis. And the pods fit in your Keurig! Same here: you have to be 21 to enter this website. Sorry, Skeeter.

3. According to GomerBlog, coffee is now OK to keep at nurses’ stations in hospitals.
Yes, the Joint Commission, the people that approve the rules hospitals have to live by, found that heavy fines levied against hospitals that allowed caffeinated beverages at nurses’ stations finally had the desired effect. All hospitals banned coffee from nurses’ stations.
However, their statisticians found increased sloppiness, more errors on reports and an increase of residents yawning in patients’ faces. After years of fighting the good fight they finally relented, and the deans of medical education are happy to announce that nurses and residents are now working better together.

4. Of course, #3 is satire for those residents versed in the arts.

I worked in the coffee industry in a roasting plant for fifteen years and I can assure you that there are many healthful benefits to drinking coffee.

Rather than take my word for it, I did a diligent search for empirical data to bolster my claim.

I do not see which types of coffee they are recommending, (here is a list, along with 6 fine articles to whet your whistle.) HOWEVER, I did not see the Greek coffee listed. It is a strong black coffee ground exceedingly fine – like flour.) The article also doesn’t list how strong they brewed it, how long it has been standing (old coffee? Yuck!), and so on. Then we get into the algorithm thing needed to calculate all the variables.

Well, I am here to assure you that your United States Army has an app for that. Yes, Sir!

HISTORY.NET

It will take into account your innate sensitivity to the brew, and determines how much, and WHEN to consume caffeine to maximize benefits and keep those pesky jitters at bay.

The app will be available via smartphone that will enable you to “predict current and future alertness and cognitive performance based on a series of psychomotor vigilance task (PVT)tests, your sleep, and caffeine intake data.”

Now doesn’t that just sound like the U.S Army? I know you will ask the most obvious question – how many men and women serve in the military?

On January 23, 2019, there were close to 1.4 million people serving in the U.S Armed Forces. That means that 0.4 percent of the American population is active military personnel.

MILITARY VETERANS

As of 2014, the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) estimates there were 22 million military veterans in the U.S. population. If you add their figures to the active personnel, 7.3 % of all living Americans have served at some point.

An interesting tidbit: at the height of the Vietnam War over 500,000 personnel served in-country.

A tidbit: more than half of all veterans are over 60 right now.

But we were talking about coffee.

Dr. Jaques Reifman, at the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, said that alertness can be improved by 64%!

He also noted that when you drink coffee plays as much of a role as the amount.

This link will get you to the tool – sort of. The address for the 2B-Alert Web app is https://2b-alert-web.bhsai.org but you will need to put in your username and password, pesky regs.

But the tool is still being developed. It doesn’t say what kind of coffee has the most caffeine either.

But I knew you would ask so I put a link HERE for the amount of caffeine, not only in coffee but soda, tea, etc.

I have been writing about trump since at least March of 2015. The research has been grueling but enlightening. Entertaining as I learned the tricks of the master fraud and disheartening as I have seen how many people still follow him.

What will be the outcome of the 2020 election. If he loses the vote will he surrender his throne as the preeminent facist American has known?

I did not realize that extremely intelligent scientists were studying the very topics that I was researching in my quest to understand.

I have only scratched the surface of all the studies that are available.

As you have read I am partial to the work of Dr. Bobby Azarian as published in Psychology Today.

Also David Dunning of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

And so many other brilliant researchers that have been able to pinpoint the exact tools trump uses to bamboozle his loyalists.

These aren’t all stupid or dumb people. They are United States Senators and United States Congressman. Obviously many follow the follow money spread out by Russia as it seeks to dismantle its most feared enemy.

But then, how can Americans, many of them military, lay down their oaths they swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and see it trampled by trump, putin and other despots.

Surely, there will be a serious hotseat in hell that awaits them.

How to understand why people would choose to follow trump. Why would they follow him after two years into his presidency when he was making me gag on his criminality?

How Trump hoodwinked his supporters

Dr. Azarian wrote an article that appeared in “Alternet” on July 23, 2018. The heading read:

“Those who score low on political knowledge overestimate their expertise more when greater empahsis is on political affliation.”

I stated this in the last post a different way “People that think they know what they aretalking about, (those in trump’s sphere of influence) rarely know what they don’t know!

Does that make sense?

Maybe I should say “too dumb to know that they are too dumb”. A bit harsh? Maybe. This, you will recall, is the DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT.

A new study by Ian Anson, a political scientist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, ‘found that the Dunning Kruger Effect applies to politics, but it also appears to be exacerbated when partisan identies are more salient.’

Huh?

Maybe try this: The more emphasis that is placed on political affiliation, the more those who score low on political knowledge the more they overestimate their expertise.

Deliver ‘alternative facts’ boisterously and sprinkle in some ‘dog whistles’ that appeal to their baser instincts and we see results like these:

“In 2016 and experiment found that 45% of Republicans believe the Affordable Care Act included ‘death panels’ and a 2015 study found that 54 percent of Republican primary voters believed then President Barach Obama to be a Muslim.”

Perhaps the scariest study was the one that found only 25% of Republicans believe human activity contributes to climate change.

Even more scary is the study that showed that in just two years 2015 to 2017 Republicans came to believe that 58% say that a college education “negatively impacts’ the state of the nation!

The last time I recall these activites George Wallace was hammering out ‘dog whistles’ to drump up support for his run at the presidency. An assassin’s bullet felled him before the votes were cast.

Now that we recognize these voices from the past have not been quieted or change how do we move on?

Fear-mongering is a powerful tool that has been used for a very long time. Fear has been the number 1 go-to emotion.

But the new tool of the political right is ANGER. It is the new tool to divide and conquer.

The politics of fear are pretty well understood so I will insert some scientific stuff now.

In the Journal ‘Cell Biology’ studies show that ‘liberalism is associated with a larger volume of gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex. Conservatism is associated with an increase in the size of the right amygdala (but not the left amygdala).You can review the findings in this edition of Current Biology

I will leave this topic with this tidbit: “Stronger liberalism is associatated with increased sensitivity to cues for altering a habitual pattern.”

Dr. Suhay (Elizabeth Suhay Ph.D. and Cengiz Erisen of American University are authors of an anger study and its role in political formation. Their results “suggest that both conservatives and liberals are experiencing great biased assimilation of political information.” To find out how anger fuels our political beliefs I suggest you dig into this a little bit.

Trump is using oppenents toward more extreme political stances that are less popular with the average voter. We are starting to see this with the Democrats as they wrestle with impeachment or some other course of action. Of course we have to ask, can we stay calm rather than let our feathers get ruffled over trump’s hateful messages and his appeals to tribalism?

My great fear is how long will it take this country to stand tall again? How long will it take to right the ship of state.

It will never be held in the high regard it once was. It will never again be a beacon on a hill for other nations to follow.

How will our young people turn from the bitterness, the hatred, the anger, the atrocious deeds inspired by this lout?

Generations will ponder the solutions. I just hope they are smarter than I.

It is a subject that has turned my head inside out. The answers from this research are now starting to make sense.

How people could 1: believe in him in the first place; 2: vote for him; 3: continue to hold him up as the next messiah even though he has stomped on their dreams and finances so many times.

I have mentioned that I have relied on articles by Dr. Bobby Azarian, a neuroscientist, titled “Mind in the Machine” for documentation. I have also relied on my published posts for topics and research materials.

Some of the blog posts I have published on ‘dabblerduckbutts.com’ are:

“How do I Understand? aka New Information into Old Thinking” “How do we Recover? The Rise of the Intolerants”

“Who is this Man? akaRepitition Makes it So”

“NEVERMORE” Anguished

“My Rant 3 Let’s Talk” “Temper Tantrum”

“Cognitive Dissonance” Series

“Bossman” Series

and many more.

I think you will find that a majority of posts to this site are in some way connected to trump. I hope this post draws them together so that they are not so far-flung and disorderly.

I had hoped this series would be a catharsis and I would be able to cast trump and his rats from my spirit. But I now fear that may not be so.

My hope is in the women. My hope is in the young people. My hope is in the millenlials whose own hope in earning a piece of the American Dream is dimming.

Hopefully they will step forward and step up to cast this blight and restore the old order in a new form.

I hope that never again will people not carry out their duty, their responsibility to seriously consider for whom they cast their vote.

The activities that have brought this division in our country to light are beyond counting. The upheaval is beyond measure.

Thanks for stopping.

Craig

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The Amercian Eagle always on watch for treason

Justic Louis Brandeis

Louis Brandeis with ‘We must make our Choice” quote.

Hubert H. Humprey, United States Senator, Minnesota’s Favorite Son, Vice President of the United States, elder Statesman

Franklin Roosevelt, three term President of the United States of America

Like this:

I started researching and studying material on trump more than a year ago. Actually my first blog post was in Google’s Blogger in May 2016. I communicated with one other person regarding my dire misgivings regarding trump. I wish I had saved those original thoughts. Craig Martineau

republished 5/10/2019 (originally published on Hubpages January 2019)

I started this series as a continuation of two posts I had made on another blog “dabblerduckbutts.com:

How do I Understand? aka New Information into Old Thinking.com

How do We Recover? The Rise of the Intolerants.com

In the Prologue to this series, I defined “Deep State” as it was originally used and how I transferred the power of these words to be Trump’s activities since it describes “a clandestine

network entrenched inside the government “. (Dictionary.com)

In addition to the research I have done since the time trump started to run for the primary nomination (approximately March 2015), I have leaned heavily into the work of Dr. Bobby Azarian, a neuroscientist, for the post.

Dr. Azarian’s work is “Mind into Machine” and appeared in Psychology Today.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect: Humans often Overestimate Their Political Expertise

Relative Deprivation – A Misguided Sense of Entitlement

Lack of Exposure to Dissimilar Others

Trump’s Conspiracy Theories Target the Mentally Vulnerable

Moving On

I am going to continue with a few new topics. The last post in this series will complete Dr. Azarian‘s main topics and I will introduce a few new ones.

10. Trump Taps into the Nation’s Collective Narcissism:

This narcissism is the shared belief “in the greatness of one’s national group”. We have seen how the unrealistic belief, I label it a curse, has been unleashed many times in our history.

A study published in 2017 in the Journal “Social Psychological and Personality Science“ found a direct link ‘direct link between national collective narcissism and support for Donald Trump’ by Thomas F Pettigrew.

High right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance predicted that people had more favorable attitudes of trump.

Lower cognitive ability predicted that people would have greater intentions to vote for trump and lower intentions to vote for Clinton.

Why is this not a surprise? I believe this study and others point to results I think are pretty self- evident.

As we go to the next points, try to tie them back, in your mind, to earlier discussion threads to see if you too find the truths almost self-evident.

13. Authoritarian Personality:

This explains trump’s and also his follower’s tendencies to be obsessed with rulers like Putin, Xi Jinping, and Duterte of the Philipines.

Please take note that ‘authoritarianism refers to the advocacy of strict obedience to authority

at the expense of personal freedom and is associated with the lack of concern for the opinions or needs of others”.

Authoritarianism is not only displayed by the ruler, i.e. trump, but also by his supporters.

As trump drags our federal workers through his shutdown not only does his disregard for the welfare of others shine through his actions but we see the same characteristics in many of the Republican legislators that don’t stand up even for their own constituents.

Wikipedia defines ‘authoritarian personality’ as a belief in total and complete obedience to authority. It is displayed in “aggression to outgroup members, submissiveness to authority, resistance to new experiences and a rigid hierarchical view of society.”

“Authoritarianism is triggered by a fear which makes it easy for leaders who exaggerate threats or fear monger to gain their allegiance.”

In my post “How do we Recover? The Rise of the Intolerants we see that these people are willing to overthrow the democracy they were raised in for a total and usually cruel rule of a dictator.

I think the relationship between Hitler and Joseph Goebbels illustrates this precisely (see my blog post “Who is the Man? aka Repetitions Make It So.com” dated August 8, 2018.)

Goebbels slavishly followed Hitler and lifted him in grand spectacles of the Third Reich.

If you are interested in an in-depth study of authoritarianism I recommend: “The F Scaleas a Predictor of Fascism: An Overview of 40 Years of AuthoritarianResearch” . The author is Joseph Meleon

Trump laces his speech with absolutist terms like “losers” and “complete disasters”. His loyal supporters lap this slop up like rabid dogs.

Matthew Mac Williamsin a Politico article, defined the trait predicts whether you are a trump supporter. In fact, that is the title of his article “The One Weird Trait That PredictsWhether You’re a Trump Supporter“ published January 17, 2018.

Care to guess the trait? Authoritarianism followed by terrorism.

Trump plays directly to these inclinations of his supporters at his pep rallies.

Like this:

I can’t stop. I originally published this post in Hubpages in January 2019. I have been researching and studying the material for over a year. Hopefully you will find it as addicting and SCARY as I have. Craig Martineau

In the Prologue, I explained my choice of the title: Trump’s Deep State. The dictionary.com’s definition of ‘deep state’ we found that the origin of the term is from the secret Turkish network known as derindevlet.

This group was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk with the purpose of undertaking clandestine acts to preserve the current government structure.

If you have followed Rudy Guglani’s antics on television trying to obfuscate the activities (most illegal) of the trump administration you have seen how trump is using the deep state to subvert the government of the United States of America.

The Last Hurrah

I keep saying I am going to clean out my WordPress blog of all the political stuff so that I can unhook myself from the depressing topic of trump.

But one last hurrah – this series may be my catharsis – I hope.

I have spent over a year researching the question: “How did Trump attract such a following, why, and why do they continue to support him?”

This series will be my final post on the downfall of America. However, I retain the right to comment again as that day gets closer.

I have to find a real part-time job so I can supplement our Social Security income. THAT isn’t much fun to live on.

I believe that trump (Note the t is not capitalized. I cannot give him even that much respect.) will dismantle the federal government. The Republicans will grab the pieces and privatize them. That is their ticket for staying with trump. They will get rich of the skeleton.

How can I say that?

Just today in the Huffington Postthere is an article titled ” Republicans Cynically Demonized Government for Decades. The Shutdown Belongs to them.” (dated Jan 23, 2019).

Several bits from that post: Reagan’s catchphrase that Republicans still parrot “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

Republican plutocrats like “the Koch brothers have spent millions convincing ordinary Americans that government is the enemy”.

They have been successful. “A 2015 Gallup poll showed that 57% of Americans favor reducing the size of government.”

Real scary but true “many Americans who benefit from government assistance are literally in denial. “The classic example is the angry constituent who told his congressman “Keep your government hands off my Medicare. But this ignorance is too pervasive to amuse.

The numbers are shocking: depending on the program, they include a range of 50 to 65 percent of those that benefit from 529 tuition savings plans, the home mortgage deduction, student loans, or childcare tax credits; 40 to 50 percent of those receiving Social Security, Pell Grants, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits; and 25 to 40 percent of those receiving Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps.”

“Left unanswered was whether these folks believed their benefactor was the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy!”

“These delusions are particularly prevalent in red states, which contribute the least in federal revenues and rely most heavily on federal services.”

You will note that Republicans are the ones most frequently scapegoating federal employees.

An article by nbcnews.com heralds the statement that the trump admin is planning on many more weeks of the shutdown.

One last tidbit showing the immense control trump has over the republican party. “The RNC just voted unanimously” to cancel the 2020 Republican Primary so trump would be able to run unopposed.

Back to Dr. Bobby Azarian:

8. Relative Deprivation – A Misguided Sense of Entitlement:

This is a main topic of one of my blog posts.

“Relative deprivations refers to the experience of being deprived of something to which you believed that you are entitled to.”

“It is the discontent felt when you compare your position in life to others” who you feelare unequal or inferior to you.But these people have more success than you.

This is common in “swing states like Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.”

These feelings can be economic, racial, immigrant-based. These feelings ignore the fact you are not keeping pace with the ‘accelerating pace of education.

We will witness this as the Fourth Industrial Revolution pass our citizens by.

9. Lack of Exposure to Dissimilar Others:

“Racial and ethnic isolation of Whites at the zip-code level is one of the strongestpredictors of trump support.” Enough said.

10. Trump’s Conspiracy Theories Target the Mentally Vulnerable:

They may appear to be just odd quirks in modern society but the followers of crackpot allies of trump “and like Alex Jones and the shadowy QAnon” some may have psychological illnesses like paranoia, delusions like schizophrenia, or at least are vulnerable to them.

I wondered as I read that farmers in Iowa have been kicked in the teeth by trump but will still vote for him. Do they suffer from this?

The link between schizotypy and belief in conspiracy theories is well-established. A study in the Journal “Psychiatry Research“ shows that this condition is still very prevalent in the population.

Other things this personality type may believe in magical thinking, the government created the AIDS epidemic, etc.

Trump and his media allies “target these people directly.”

Visit the alt-right websites and discussion boards to the evidence of this manipulation.

There are additional topics that range from trump tapping into the nation’s narcissism to understanding the racist brain.

Like this:

This post is part of a series that I published in Jan 2019.I have studied and researched material on trump since March 2015. I hope that I will be able to find that material.The events of the last few weeks increase the urgency of republishing this material so that ‘normal’ people, who may not give a hoot about politics have a touchstone where they can find out how trump amassed his loyalists, to include senators and congressman, and how he keeps them in line.

This post is surgically removed from a post published in Hubpages in January. I also added a little more meat to meat to flesh out some earliers hints as to the direction we are heading.

I am leaning heavily on articles by Dr. Bobby Azarian published in Pyschology Today. He also leans on fellow researcher David Dunning for the Dunning- Kruger Effect.
I realize that this material is above the reading level in which I usually publish. In fact as I re-read it is absolutely brutal to understand. But I hope that you will bear with me.

Perhaps you will even offer suggestions on how I can make this presentation easier to read inside of being the heavy tome that it is.

Hopefully this series will be a catharsis. I want to put my angst about trump to bed at least until it gets closer to the elections.

I am sure you are aware how taxing his pronunciations can be: without merit, without sound reasoning and without a shred of good public speaking skills. In addition his shills such as Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Bill Barr,Ruby Guiliani, Bob Jordan, Mark Meadows et al. add to his crassness and belicosity.

Let’s crank up this machine again and move along in our effort to dismantle trump.

A short review:
I have appropriated trump’s term ‘Deep State’ to describe how his machinations have infiltered and seized the inner workings of our government from food safety inspections (the lack thereof); barbaric treatment of immigrants especially along our Southern Border; his idiotic foreign policy which relies on his supposed personal relationships which dictators and fascists.

A case in point is the increase in the tariffs on Chinese imports. To quell their appropriation of our technology he beats up the average American citizen instead of fashioning policies to deal with the actual problems.

China retaliates by not purchasing our farmers soybeans because he did not target the real item of his wrath so now he puts farmers on welfare and pays them what they would have earned had he not deconstructed the market system.

Oh I could go on but let’s return to how and what means trump has used to get the US into this mess.

In addition to Dr. Azarian’s research and others that I mention in this series, I need to make you aware of even stronger research.

An article in The Washington Post on January 23, 2016 by Jacob Bogage tells the story of neuroscientist Ryan McGarry who applies so electrodes to your head, shows you a video clip and can tell who you are going to vote for. SCARY?

Maybe we can discover how trump won without dissecting millions of brains.

A brief glimpse at this postulate and then we will come back to it.The Dunning Kruger Effect states: Humans often Overestimate Their Political Expertise. Indeed people are unaware of how misinformed they actually are!.

Other points that we need to consider:The Power of Mortality Remindrs and Perceived Existential ThreatsRelative Deprivation – A Misquided Sense of EntitlementLack of Exposure to Dissimilar OtherTrumps Conspiracy Theories Target the Mentally Vulnerable.

The Moral Compass. Good Evil Wrong Right

I tried to make this short since the preceding posts have been pretty ugly. I hope that you will refresh and come back to join me for more of this series.

This group was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk with the purpose of undertaking clandestine acts to preserve the current government structure.

2019 Derivative

Deep State today is usually used in the context of Trump’s enemies.

I have turned him on his head and use it to describe HIS activities, personnel HE uses to subvert the government of the UnitedStates of America.

Last weekend, Friday, January 11th, 2019The New York Times started an avalanche of articles, discussions, and arguments with the story on Trump as an asset of Russia.

This was an exciting story over the weekend. But it was nothing new to me. I have believed since at least March or May of 2015 when I started to write a blog exposing him as a malignant narcissist and enemy of the United States. I am searching for that material so I can reprint it.

It is an important background to my current belief that trump is doing no less than dismantling the Federal Government!

I believe it explains the expose by The New Times, the actions of trump in starting and prolonging this shut down of the Federal Government. I believe it also explains why the Republicans have not come to the aid of the United States.

The Republicans or Republicrooks as I have named them are aiding and abetting his conspiracies and criminality because they will snatch up the pieces that are left and privatize those parts to their great profit.

So What are Your Thoughts???

My Post after MUCH Jamming and Studying

I have not understood how trump (notice the ‘t’ is not capitalized) is able to keep up to 45% of the US voting population tied to his apron strings.

I have written at least two posts to my WordPress blog ‘dabblerducksbutts.com’. “How Do I Understand? aka New Information into Old Thinking”. The second post is “How do We Recover: The Rise of the Intolerants.

I found an article by Noah Berlatsky “The Trump Effect: New Study connects White American Interoleranceand Support for Authoritarianism.”The Trump Effect by Noah Berlatsky

Mr. Berlatsky’s “research suggests that when intolerant white people fear democracythey abandon their commitment to democracy“.

Hillary Clinton decried the ‘Deplorables” during the campaign of 2016. I now call them the ‘Intolerants.”

This theory is also described in greater length later in this series of posts but it distills down to ” I am entitled to my dream which promises a living and certain comforts. I will not let people less than me (blacks and browns) come in and take that dream from me. (Reason #8 see in the next post.)

The Moral Compass. Good Evil Wrong Right

Continued in the next post

Please follow me as we will delve into the reasons why trump’s ‘Deep State’ acts as they do.

I will use as the base of discussion the works of Dr. Bobby Azarian in “Psychology Today”.

What in the world is going on?

While researching this blog post, I ran into a publication by the Brookings Institute.
The executive summary for the publication by Brookings.edu on 2/26/19 is “Democracy & Disorder: The struggle for influence in the new geopolitics”

“The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.”

Why is democracy fading or even more correctly failing?

Why have American servicemen and women dedicated themselves to preserving the international order founded at the end of WWII?

Have all the lives that lost and disabilities suffered been for naught?

This was a great beginning to this post.

A TRULY SAD TALE THAT IS INEXCUSABLE

Task & Purpose January 22, 2018, by James Clark
“For the first time in seven years, the number of homeless veterans in the United States has increased.

Yes, the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development has made strides in those seven years, the total homeless vets dropped by 46% in the period.

But what about the over 40,000 vets still living on the streets of these United States?

Are we more concerned about a wall than the souls of those who served?

The VA is temporarily suspending discharges and decreases in level of support from its Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers because of continued concerns expressed by veterans, caregivers and advocated about inconsistent application of eligibility requirements by VA medical centers.

CAREGIVER SUPPORT LINE: 855-260-3274

OK THIS IS NOT CHRISTMAS

But I found this you-tube video. Please view it and pass it on.

Did you know?

That veterans account for roughly 11% of the adult homeless population

I have been promising myself that I would finish a post on Veteran’s health for months. I apologize that it has been so long, but health issues have kept me pretty busy. Doctor’s appointments you never seem to end.

Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans

MACV

My first note is to commend the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans. This organization is committed to helping vets, especially those that are homeless. They have helped me thru some rough patches. I know that in the Cities they even went looking for vets during the 50 degrees below weather during the Polar Vortex of 2019. Real dedication to their mission.

Donations to help house homeless veterans is appreciated. Instructions on the website www.mac-v.org.

BLUE-WATER NAVY

Some long overdue news: The law firm of Hill & Ponton P.A. Disability Attorneys, announced on January 29, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit the Department of Veterans Affairs could not exclude Blue Water veterans from receiving the same benefits as other veterans who served in the Vietnam theater, also called ‘the Brown Water Navy’ or ‘boots on the ground’.

The Blue-Water Navy, those vets who served aboard ships are now entitled to the same presumptive benefits.

The main disabilities covered are diabetes and heart disease from exposure to dioxin, better known as Agent Orange.

Procopio v. Wilkie is the case that restored the ‘will of Congress’ to all veterans of the Vietnam theater.

If you are suffering from these or other presumptive diseases contact yourCountyVeterans Service Officer and he or she will help you file a disability claim with the VA.

Presumptive Illnesses

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus also known as Type 2 diabetes devastates the sheath covering the nerves. Suffering includes deterioration of vision, cellulitis, edema, loss of blood flow resulting in the amputation of extremities and limbs.

Healthline.com is one of the easiest to understand resources for diabetes information. A newsletter arrives at least once a week and I think you can sign up for more.

The articles range from insulin injectors to a new drug that “helps the body replenish its insulin-producing cells.”

VA’s “presumptive list” of diseases that are caused by exposure to Agent Orange now includes everything from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prostate cancer, and multiple myeloma to Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease”.

Ischemic Heart Disease is a “condition in which the blood flow (thus oxygen) is reduced in parts of the body”. Other names are coronary heart disease and coronary artery disease. These can lead to heart attacks.

Pay attention to how you feel. Your body will tell you when something is not working right. The doctors can determine the cause.

This is a list of a few of the resources available on the American Heart Association website (use the above link). These are excellent resources.

Other resources on this site: apps for your phone and tablet: Mindfulness training and AIMS—Anger and Irritability Management Skills.
The VA has developed these apps for veterans and service members.

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Self Doubt

This is an article in Inc.com by Carol Sankar on ways to overcome ‘Negative Self Talk’.

As a trained specialist in confidence training and research, she suggests three ways to eliminate “the megaphone from drowning out optimism”.

“Stop Confirming Your Fears“

“Avoid words and phrases which imply doubt and skepticism”. These phrases such as ‘what if I can’t’, “I don’t know how’, I don’t think I can’. These words disable your confidence.

“Focus on the life you desire—not the challenges you’re facing“

Visualize what you want in life and what you want out of life. This is not simple.

She tells us the secret: “ If you focus on your challenges, you will continue to feed your own limitations. Your language will begin to reflect your reality rather than the optimism of the journey ahead. Your language and vision will set the intentions”. “Focus on what is ahead.”

“Network with other established founders and leaders“

To achieve your goals spend time with the people who have achieved what you want. Gain “sound advice from people who have overcome challenges” and changed “their relationship with doubt.”

First one and then the other

Talentsmart an organization that claims that 75% of Fortune 500 companies use its test on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) has conducted research with more than a million people.

They found that the best bosses have characteristics in common.

Dr. Travis Bradbury is the President of Talent Smart and writes articles that appear frequently in LinkedIn.

Before retirement, I always tried to be a ‘good’ boss. Those things that make a good boss are difficult to keep at the top of the mind awareness,

In the heat of a moment, or confronted with a seemly intractable problem or even in a serious discussion managers/bosses tend to make an inevitable mistake.

I think the goal should be: keep your good intentions at the forefront of your mind, practice the correct reactions so that they become a habit, and don’t let the ‘bad’ actions get a foothold in your psyche.

“Speak with Certainty”

I tried not to “um”, “I’m not sure” and, “I think”. But I was not as assertive in speaking as the “best bosses” I knew.

“Positive Body Language”

You could often catch me unfolding my arms as I consciously became aware that they were folded across my chest.

I knew this was a defensive action and I would watch out for it.

The same principle applies to eye contact. I watched for that in other people while they spoke to me. Even leaning in a little towards the listener I was aware of but not sure I remembered to use that one either.

“Super successful people ‘ draw others in’. “How you say something can be more important than what you say.”

“Confident”

‘Successful leaders compete for your attention.” How you say something can be more important than what you say.

I was not aware of this one, especially when it is recommended for those times when the efforts would only yield a small victory.

The victory, however small still builds new androgen receptors in the brain. “They are responsible for reward and motivation.

The increase in androgen receptors increases the influence of testosterone, which further increases confidence and eagerness to tackle future challenges.

“Fearless”

“Fear is nothing more than a lingering emotion that’s fueled by your imagination.” Danger, however, is real.

But fear is not danger. This is interesting “Fear is a choice.” I have never heard that before.

“Grateful”

This I recognize as a trait that I always tried to emulate.

I have always done the tasks that I later end up supervising. I recognize the hard work and ingenuity that is required.

I would much rather celebrate subordinates glory than my own.

I have felt that they need a standing ovation so they can be recognized by higher echelon bosses.

These traits should be self-explanatory to anyone that has toiled in a subordinate position.

I originally wrote this to put out for people to read, discuss and even chuckle over. I am sure former employees will have a great time.

However, I ran into another great article

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The first article I have had written for years and I haven’t been able to find the exact place where I found it.

The next part I found just before Christmas 2018 and it is a great counterpoint to the above article.

This article was in INC.com written by Marcel Schwantes titled “7 Signs of a Toxic manager that should be stopped immediately.”

Mr. Schwantes, the Principal, and Founder of “Leadership from the Core” begins his article “I’ve been part of many conversations with executive clients who are quick to blame their employees for bickering and lackluster performance. They get their information, of course, from management teams bickering and complaining about their employees.”

He continues, “While there’s no quick-fix solution, I tell them, usually the reasons managers aren’t getting the best from smart, creative, and talented employees have to do with job dissatisfaction – common human reactions to unfulfilled work expectations and/or stressful environments – and managers, not employees, are primarily to blame.”

“A Gallup study of 7,272 U.S. adults found that 50 percent of employees left their jobs “to get away from their manager to improve their overall life at some point in their career.”

I don’t know if that is a reflection on the training that these managers received or if they were just too absorbed in thinking that they were the best gift to the manager corps.

A sign that a person is a good manager is that he or she regularly asks for feedback from their employees in a formal setting such as a performance review or informally while gathering around the water cooler.

If you inspect managers closely and if they prove to be a poor manager, you will find certain negative practices and untrustworthy behaviors that are consistent with the above research findings.

“Seven of the most toxic management behaviors that stifle the human spirit and such the soul out of an organization” are:

1. People are Treated as Objects, not as Human Beings

2. Employees Compete Against Each Other

3. Passive Aggressiveness

4. A Focus on the Negative

5. Stealing the Spotlight

6. Missing in Action

7. Gossiping

While these findings are pretty much self-explanatory I think Mr. Schwantes summarizes each topic succinctly.

“Because compassion and empathy are virtually non-existent, they are treated as an object or expense rather than assets and there is little concern for their happiness or well-being. You will encounter high levels of stress, turnover, absenteeism, and burnout.

Management probably enforces a performance assessment system that focuses on individual performance than team performance. This leads to ‘every employee for himself or herself.

The book “Toxic Workplace” showed that most toxic personalities are passive aggressive. This means that they distrust others and are very territorial and seek to remain in control. This can be seen in employees that never take a vacation for fear others will learn their job and displace them. “They don’t see themselves as the problem.”

Management only looks at the negative actions. They may never give positive feedback and reinforcement for “things that are going right.”

The manager takes all the credit for the work. He or she does not praise the team and offers no celebration of everyone’s success.

When a big problem comes up in a project the manager is nowhere to be found. They take shelter in all day meetings. They are insecure or fear conflict.

The most toxic trait is gossip. It hurts teams because the atmosphere becomes filled with suspicion and distrust. When a boss spreads rumors it is the opposite of what a true human leader would do.

How to solve the problem?

Warren Buffet always looks to character and integrity. He has called ‘integrity the most important trait in hiring, above intelligence.”

A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology states that to stop the toxic boss crisis simply promote people with the virtues of moral integrity and goodness into leadership roles.

Bob Sutton, Professor of Organizational Studies at Stanford says that to find out if you are in a toxic workplace:

Are you losing sleep, productivity, and fulfillment of physical and mental health issues?

Are people around you jerks, and that everyone’s performance is suffering?

A: John Roberts

Assault 4: Press

A: Credentials and new Rules

Assault 5: The Deadly Spy Game

A: Saudi government using Israeli spyware “Pegasus” from NSO Group

Trump is attempting the rape of all branches of government.

Legislative, Congressional, Judicial all at one time. Oh and throw in the military for some excitement.

I did not see this coming. I thought he would take one action at a time.

He has the executive branch. But he is now taking a brazen takeover of the Department of Justice.

He believes there is no one will oppose him. He has had Mitch McConnell in his pocket all year.

Matt Whitaker does not have the constitutional certification to operate the Justice Department.

Will the Senate get a backbone to correct this? I doubt it.

But if the current situation continues there will not have to be a motion to protect Mueller. Mueller is taken out of play.

Trump has a direct pipeline to the investigation since Whitaker is only his mouthpiece and tunnel rat into Mueller work so he can move at this own pace. This could be to wait until the Mueller report is sent to him, rather than Congress, and stir the southern border to activate the Snookered Army.

What do you think?

And Trump has said he will decide issues that arise.

The Military is assigned the southern border. Due to posse comitatus, they cannot engage in law enforcement activities and yet…

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Trump’s Snookered Army, making their way to the southern border.

Is this Trump’s strategy for getting the military involved in a firefight so that he can assume martial law or some other maneuver that hastens his power grab?

However, they have strung concertina wire which I see as a function of law enforcement. Marching in place waiting for orders?

Today General Mattis countermanded those orders. And has said, as of now, he had not received formal orders.

Trump this morning labeled the 9th Circuit as ‘Obama’ judge.

Justice John Roberts shot right back with “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said in a statement. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”

The flashpoint was November 7, 2018, when Trump recalled Jim Acosta’s press credentials

A Trump appointed judge reinstated them.

Trump immediately established new rules for all Washington press corps.

Follow-up questions will be not allowed. While seemingly innocuous they will have the effect of stifling the freedom of speech.

The turf is marked off.

The Constitution defines the rules of engagement.

Now, will the Armies show?

Trump will. He has spent two years maneuvering to get to this place.

Graphic Facebook artist unknown

It appears the Supreme Court and therefore the courts are joined.

The Fourth Estate is already in the battle and they are spoiling for a fight.

The military has fired the first salvo in standing up to the Commander in Chief.

The big question is, as it has been all year – where is the United States Senate?

Trump has tangled them into knots of ineffectiveness all year.

As I have postulated, I think there are Senators who depend on the stipends offered by Trump’s supporters.

Why has Senator Rand Paul, who was anti-Russia suddenly determine Russia was playing nice after his trip to Russia? There are others.

Other senators have also softened their stance.

Also, Trump has his 30 million or so ‘allies’. These allies are ‘his base’. his “Snookered Army”.

They have silenced a few people and encouraged them to lie down their arms and cease their opposition to Trump.

In some cases, this was accomplished by threatening force.

Trump has laid out his positions.

He wants control of :

The executive branch and the Senate (he lost control of the House in the November mid-term elections), and the Judicial Branch.

He has appointed 2 Conservative Supreme Court Justices and 29 of the Courts of Appeal and 5 District Court Judges. There are a total of 179 Judges on the Courts of Appeal and 673 district court judges.

Don McGahn Google Images

Don McGahn served as Trump‘s White House Counsel and was primarily responsible for the appointments Trump has made to the federal bench.

Trump’s pretentions have him controlling the federal courts but even his recent appointees such as Kavanaugh have ruled against his actions.

Two REALLY BIG ace cards Trump is using:

The Senate is starting investigations into Comey and Clinton (you thought 2016 had moved on?). I have not seen this on the official calendar as of this writing but keep your eyes open.

Trump is preparing to use (if he hasn’t already done so) a neat spy tool that Saudia Arabia is using on it’s malcontents.

This spy tool is called “Pegasus”and was “the creation of a highly secretive, $1 billion-valued Israeli surveillance dealer called NSO Group.”

This ” tool is able to silently hoover up private information on a target iPhone, from WhatsApp chats to emails and can spy on people via their smartphone’s camera and microphone.”

What is the United States place in the re-alignment?

If Trump is somehow taken out of the picture in 2020 where does this leave the world?

An issue arising from the ascendence of ‘strong men’ is “What happens when they are overthrown?

I expect in the coming days we will see even more swords being brandished and flames coming from the mouths of each party until there is one huge pile-up on the steps of the Supreme Court. The diversion.

What Trump is setting in motion is best described in a comment to Washington Post article “Troops Approved to use Force, but Mattis says the mission hasn’t changed” by Missy Ryan and Paul Sonne. The commentator istherenojustice
posted in the Washington Post article dated November 21.

Is there a place where Trump thinks he will win all of his arguments?

The Congress, The Fourth Estate, The Judiciary, The Military, The Immigrants, The NSO Group with Pegasus, The Snookered Army.